Kojama Gasen: Shinobi Of The Hidden Bone Village
by kmiester555
Summary: Kojama Gasen is a ninja from the Village Hidden in the Bones, overseen by its founder and leader, the Shikage. Kojama's dream is to become the first person to defeat the Shikage, taking his place as the second Shikage and leading the village into a more peaceful and accepting state. Follow the story of Kojama's early life, all the way up until he graduates ninja school.
1. Gasen & Doku: The Jaakuna Te Line

Episode 1

Gasen And Doku: The Jaakuna Te Line

Young Kojama awoke from his rest, energized and eager to wander about the Bone Village. Despite the dark bruises on his arms, no aching or soreness could injure his charisma or curiosity.

He loved his village, even if it did have a reputation of being hostile and dangerous. He'd never experienced being hurt by anyone, besides his parents when they were disciplining him. Such was the cause of the marks and bruises left on his arms. He wasn't bitter towards his parents though, because he believed them when they said "We only do it because we care." They said this every time, and he listened.

This was the way of The Village Hidden in the Bones. The parents had very little leniency, and their punishments were always that of the physical extreme.

Some kids, like Kojama, kept their chin up through it all. Others, however, weren't as strong. It wasn't uncommon to hear of children running away from their parents, never seen again. Kojama swore he would never do this, no matter how bad things may seem at the time.

An outsider composing their first impression of Kojama might never guess it, but he had an astonishingly strong will and always remained positive. This kept him going from one day to the next. In a village like his, it was the only way to live.

At this moment, Kojama was tired, much like the village he resided in. He yawned and stretched to wave away some of the tiredness, then rummaged through his dresser to find his outfit for that day. After what seemed like hours, he finally uncovered his favorite shirt.

Upon first glance, the shirt would appear as just a blank, white t-shirt. Although, further inspection would reveal kanji printed in black. This kanji was the same one found by examining the hat of the Shikage, the village leader.

This was the single aspect of the shirt which made Kojama love it the most. His other clothes often went unworn, since he would wash and dry the shirt every night just so he could wear it again the next day.

Kojama excitedly threw the shirt on, next looking for the long dark grey shorts he always wore to contrast the bright white shirt. Once he discovered and applied the shorts, it was just a matter of finding the one missing piece.

He searched for the cherry on top to tie the outfit together: a black forearm sleeve one might see on a sports player. "There it is!" Kojama yelled with a smile. He swiped the sleeve from off the top of his dresser and slipped it onto his right forearm.

"Quiet!!"

Kojama's heart stopped mid-beat. His parents were very discouraging of loud noise, and the result was typically the same each time they were angered. He shuddered at the thought of more bruises being added onto his already battered arms.

He quickly apologized to avoid being disciplined. Directly following this, his stomach rumbled fiercely, making him realize he hadn't yet eaten breakfast. He almost began to complain about his growling belly, until he remembered the shout that had come from the living room. With this in mind, he quietly stepped out of his room into the hallway connecting to the kitchen. From the kitchen, one could view the living room. The two met via a wall with an open section cut out for easy passing from one room to the other.

Once in the kitchen, Kojama fixed himself a simple bowl of cereal, after gathering everything necessary from their various housing places. The first bite came nowhere close to satisfying his hunger, whether it be the physical hunger that now had his stomach roaring, or the internal hunger that made his very soul roar just the same. Kojama continued eating, noting how significant the difference seemed between the moment before his first bite and the shape of the bowl's contents as he came close to finishing it off.

Feeling a considerable bit less tired, Kojama kicked his feet about under the table. With one foot grazing the other, as they swung in opposition back and forth, he remembered that he still hadn't yet put on socks. Due to this realization, Kojama rinsed out his empty bowl, then made his way back to his room after placing the bowl in the half of the sink where the dirty dishes were kept.

In his mind, he was praying that his parents wouldn't come up with another ridiculous excuse to discipline him. While this thought rattled around in his head, Kojama once again rummaged through his dresser, finding a soft, clean pair of socks. He slipped them on, one after the other, then rushed back through the hallway and kitchen to the living room.

What awaited Kojama beyond the living room was the mud room, where Kojama's shoes lay ready for him. He slid his feet into them and firmly grabbed the doorknob with his right hand, which glowed with a bright purple chakra, capturing his attention.

He was not unfamiliar with the glowing, for every male in his whole family, save for his father and his father's side of the family, had the same glowing hand. What he felt as he watched the glow was more akin to a nagging tug in the back of his mind, telling him he forgot something. He thought deeply about what in the world this missing link could be.

Unable to conjure the answer, Kojama shrugged and twisted the doorknob, then quickly stepped around the now open door and closed it behind him after changing hands from one side of the door to the other, where the other half of the doorknob stayed, as he spun. Kojama smirked as he did this, congratulating himself in his thoughts. "Oh man, that must have looked so cool!"

Kojama's house was nestled in a wooded area on the outskirts of what one might call the "downtown" area of the village. A short walk took him from his house to a dirt path that seemed to part the village itself, keeping either side held tightly in place. The path was only a formality to Kojama now, considering he could navigate the village in his sleep.

Utilizing his knowledge of the village's layout, Kojama followed the path to a small stand where reading material like newspapers, magazines, and books were vended. Kojama would occasionally talk with the cashier of the stand, as he was one of the few men in the village that did not treat children rudely.

The cashier, Yuten, recognized Kojama instantly, and greeted him warmly as Kojama stepped through the curtain acting as the shop's doorway.

"Ah, there you are. I was wondering when your next visit might be. You're a little later than usual."

Kojama felt a bit guilty after hearing this, despite Yuten's cheerful tone. "I'm sorry, Yuten, I overslept." He looked down in self-disappointment.

"Oh don't be so hard on yourself bud. For a kid your age, even if you oversleep, you're still up early," Yuten laughed.

Kojama looked up and let out a sound of near confusion. "Huh?"

Yuten looked into Kojama's dark grey eyes, which shined with a contrastically radiant courage. This spark filled Yuten himself with confidence. "You're a very good kid, Kojama. You've got a lot of potential. There aren't many others like you in this village. Be proud of who you are."

Kojama very rarely heard such uplifting words. The only two people he'd ever known to talk to him in this way were Yuten and Kojama's older brother, Jiro. Kojama practically idolized Jiro for his undying compassion and generosity. These words that Yuten spoke sounded very akin to something he would've heard Jiro say, creating a wide grin and leaping spirit from Kojama. "Gee, thanks Yuten! You're probably the nicest man in the whole village!" Kojama remarked in appreciation.

"Don't worry about it, Kojama. Just don't forget to credit me for believing in you when you become as great as you can be one day." Yuten winked and chuckled a bit. "Well of course I won't forget. How could I forget the world's best bookseller? You've got, like, every book ever!" Kojama complimented.

"I don't know about that," laughed Yuten. "Lord Shikage has actually banned many books from being sold in the village. I have many in the back of the store that I would be executed for distributing."

Even though he was a regular visitor of this small reading shop, Kojama was ignorant to the Shikage's disdain for all of the other villages and their writings. Anyone caught buying or selling anything written in another village was sentenced to death, making a death sentence in the Bone Village about as easy to catch as the common cold.

"You have more books?" Kojama asked. "Loads more! You haven't even scratched the surface of my personal library," Yuten answered. "Do you think I could read them!?" Kojama requested.

Kojama frequently read from Yuten's shop. He wasn't very picky either. He read just about everything from novels written by some of the village's most distinguished philosophers to short children's picture books. Much of what Kojama knew about ninjas came from these books. Because of the Shikage's high censorship, books only included the two Jutsus taught in the village's ninja school, Shijutsu and Shinjutsu.

"I'll do you one better," Yuten smirked. Kojama listened eagerly. "When I eventually pass away, I'll leave my entire personal book collection to you. You see, as you get older, so will I. Once I'm gone, my books will most likely be burned unless someone takes them as their own. Since I don't have any children myself, I'd love for a kid with as much potential as you to inherit my books. Maybe one day you'll even read them all."

Kojama's eyes livened up even more than they already were, which seemed impossible to Yuten. "You really mean it!? I can just have them!? Thanks, Yuten!!! You really are the nicest man in the village!"

"Come on now, it only makes sense. If anyone should get to keep my books after I'm dust in the wind, it could only be you, I mean-" Yuten was cut off by the loud conversation of two men entering the shop.

The men appeared just the same as many other men in the Bone Village, with a facial expression representing the definition of unhappiness. "I heard the kid's parents killed themselves. He was the only child they ever managed to have that wasn't stillborn," casually reported one of the men, clearly feeling no sympathy for the people whom were the topic of the conversation.

Kojama and Yuten listened as the second man picked up where the first one left off. "Well if I were them, I probably would have too. Having your only child run away like that, I couldn't even imagine!"

"You know, I heard they were one of the families that had that weird purple hand. The, uh... Jaakuna Te, I think it's called."

"The one that kills anything it touches?"

"That's the one," responded the first man.

Kojama then looked down at his right hand, widening his eyes as he realized what his gut feeling had told him he was forgetting before he left his house.

"They keep it wrapped in bandaging to prevent themselves from killing anyone or anything out in public," the first man continued.

This stung Kojama in the chest like a large, infuriated wasp.

The second man then noticed Kojama's hand, nudging the first man in the side with his elbow. "Hey, doesn't that kid's hand look a lot like that Jaakuna Te?"

"Say, it kinda does," answered the first with a sinister tone, looking at Kojama's hand then back to his friend. They looked from each other to Kojama again, walking towards him menacingly and grabbing him by the arms tightly.

Kojama struggled in the men's grip, a look of utter fear covering his face. "Hey, let him go!" Yuten ordered to the two.

The two rolled their eyes simultaneously as the first one replied, "Shut up, old man."

"You might want to listen to him," said a voice from the entrance of the shop.

Everyone shifted their attention to the source of the voice. The light against the man's back cast a silhouette, covering the majority of his front half. He stepped forward into the shop until his appearance sprang to life, thanks to the illuminating paper lantern hanging from the ceiling.

Kojama and Yuten both grinned enormously as the man was revealed to be Kojama's older brother, Jiro.

Despite his relatively young age, that of only 16, Jiro was almost the size of a fully grown adult. His ability as a ninja was directly proportional to his appearance, for he was already known as one of the best ninjas in the village, even though he was only still in ninja school.

His right hand and half of his right forearm were wrapped in bandaging, much like Kojama's should have been.

"Let go of my brother before I hospitalize the two of you. The Gasen family isn't one you want to mess with, especially when there's more than one of us."

Jiro exerted an air of confidence, easily felt by everyone in the shop. The men frowned a bit then let go of Kojama, who looked at them in surprise then ran to Jiro's side.

"If you ever touch my brother again, I'll make sure you don't touch anything ever again," threatened Jiro. The two men would have laughed at this comment, if only it weren't true.

"Just get out of here you couple of freaks!" yelled one of the two men.

Kojama frowned, angered by the man's rude remark. He began to run at the man with his fist raised and reared back, ready to strike, before Jiro stopped him by lightly grabbing a hold of him by his shoulder.

"Come on little bro, don't let them get to you. Let's just get you back home so you don't run into any more jerks like these fools."

Kojama looked at Jiro's hand on his shoulder, then turned to look at Jiro himself. He smiled a little then answered, "Right." He then turned back to the men and stuck his tongue out. He may have been one of the more mature children in his village, but he was still definitely a kid.

Jiro rolled his eyes, smiling and laughing at Kojama's juvenile gesture while ruffling Kojama's hair playfully. The two brothers then began to turn back towards the curtain at the front of the shop when they heard Yuten say, "Come back any time boys. You're always welcome here."

The two turned to look at Yuten. They both smiled and waved as Jiro started to lead Kojama back home. Kojama giddily shouted out as he walked with his brother, "Wow Jiro, that was awesome! All you had to do was just look at those guys, and they were scared stiff! You're the best brother ever!"

Jiro stopped in place, still holding onto Kojama's shoulder. "Hm?" Kojama looked up at Jiro, wondering what made him pause.

"What's the matter, big brother?"

Jiro changed his expression from the natural quarter-smile that usually lay upon his visage to a stern, solemn state of stagnation. "Kojama, you've got to remember to wrap your hand every day before you leave the house. Even in this village, our family trait can get us into a lot of trouble," Jiro lectured.

Kojama looked down at his luminous violet hand, feeling a sinking in his chest. He then curled up the hand into a fist. "Rrr... what's the big deal about this stupid hand anyways? It's not like we asked to be born with it."

As he inquired about the Jaakuna Te, it seemed to light up with twice the intensity, almost as if it was listening to the two speaking. Kojama's eyes welled up with tears. Jiro then turned Kojama to face him, addressing him.

"I know you have a lot of questions; I did too when I was your age. Unfortunately, I can't answer them while we're still out in public. We should just get you home."

Kojama nodded, then the two continued on their stroll back home. As he walked with Jiro, Kojama dreaded what his parents would do when they heard what happened in the book shop.

"Stay strong, little bro. It'll be alright," Jiro encouraged Kojama, as if he had read his mind.

Shortly after this, the two finally made it home. Kojama would have been glad to be back, if he didn't have yet another punishment awaiting him.

Jiro reached his hand forward and gripped the doorknob. The rotation of the knob only went by in little over a second, but through Kojama's eyes, this second lasted years.

Once they had stepped inside, many people's first instinct might have been to let out a rather loud "We're home" to inform their parents, but such an attempt would have been met with serious consequences in the Gasen home. Instead, Jiro and Kojama entered their house as silently as though they were making their way into a library, treading carefully as to not disturb a sensitive librarian.

Kojama's heartbeat zoomed at an almost dangerous rate, accelerated even further at the moment he heard his brother begin to speak. "I'm afraid a small quarrel started at the reading shop, mother and father. Two men saw Kojama in the shop with his Jaakuna Te unwrapped."

Kojama looked down and bit his lip while his eyes were coated in fearful tears. He was not looking forward to this moment. In fact, he had been trying to mentally delay it as much as possible, from the instant he and Jiro had left the shop.

"Is that so?" asked Mako, the Gasen boys' mother. Jiro glanced at Kojama, sharing his younger brother's pain, then looked to his mother.

Mako Gasen, known as Mako Iro before her marriage, was quite the unforgiving woman. It was through her side of the family that the Gasens had gained the Jaakuna Te. Although she herself did not possess the hand, she was a carrier for it, passing it down to all three of her sons.

Mako was very different from her own mother, displaying a parenting style much more similar to that of her emotionally distant father. It was this figure of ruthless parenthood portrayed by her father that she now exhibited in the raising of her own children.

Jiro's silence acted as reassurance to Mako. "Bring him here," commanded their mother. Kojama began to quietly sob, regretting ever stepping foot outside the house. Jiro sadly complied, walking Kojama towards their mother by the shoulder. Jiro then stepped back, hoping the best for his sibling.

"Hold out your arm, Kojama," ordered Mako. Kojama stood in place, frozen with fright. Mako waited only five seconds before restating, "I said give me your arm, son. Now."

Kojama slowly rose his shaky left arm, weeping before his stone cold mother. She gripped his wrist tightly in her bony grasp, then with the other hand, she struck Kojama's forearm with the intensity of a bullet leaving the barrel of its housing gun. Kojama spent all the will he had in his being to prevent himself from screaming, because he knew if he let out any loud noise, the punishment would only worsen.

She lifted her thin, skeletal arm, before thrashing it back down for a second strike on Kojama's skin. He grimaced, wishing with all his might that it would soon be over. She then tightened her hold on his wrist, making him think at this point she was more of a machine than a mother. Even if he wanted to break free from her clutches and run away, which he very much did, there would be no possible way.

Mako lifted her hand one last time. She held her preparation pose a little longer than the two times before, almost changing her appearance to that of a student raising her hand to ask a question. Kojama felt his body temperature increase, feeling as if he had been submerged in bubbling lava. His body heat was then met with the final hit from his mother's fingers, sending the worst pain yet through his sensitive arm. To Kojama, the pain felt like he was being poked and prodded with sharpest pins and needles.

After a virtual eternity, Mako released her son's wrist. Tears lined the sides of his face like decorative paint. He was now extremely weakened, teetering on his heels and barely able to stand. Anyone else in his position would have fallen to the floor, but he stayed in place.

He ran to Jiro, wrapping his arms around him. In return, Jiro hugged his younger brother to comfort the hurt boy.

Now came the words that would imprint themselves within Kojama's memory for years to come.

"I only do it," Mako began. Kojama coughed in his struggle to hold himself together. This struggle was doubled when Mako completed her sentence, "because I care."

Jiro lightly patted Kojama's back, almost as if to say, "That's enough." Kojama let go of Jiro and turned back around to look at his mother. Her vulture eyes stabbed into Kojama's as she sat, fully composed, on the couch. "Kojama was curious about the Jaakuna Te, mother. I hoped you could possibly answer his questions better than I might," Jiro stated.

Mako shifted her gaze from Kojama, who now wore a face as lifeless as her own, to Jiro. She nodded faintly, then extended the same hand that had inflicted countless marks onto both Jiro's and Kojama's arms over the years. The hand's palm faced the ceiling, with the pinky, ring finger, and middle finger all curled inward towards the center of the hand. The index finger pointed towards Jiro and Kojama, then slowly curled up like the others, implying that she wished for Jiro to bring Kojama to her once again.

Jiro heeded the beckoning movement, walking Kojama to the couch that their mother sat on. Kojama began to shake again, for even being near his own mother made his skin crawl. "Sit, my son," spoke Mako, whose voice was now entirely unrecognizable without its typical shrill shriek. Kojama hesitantly did so, staring down at the floor.

"Look at me, Kojama," Mako told him. Terrified, Kojama complied.

"The Jaakuna Te comes from my mother's side of the family. My mother was one of the two Doku twins," Mako recounted. Kojama listened carefully, his interest fully captured.

"The other twin was the father of Karasu Doku, the first Shikage. Lord Shikage does not have any children, so you and your brothers are the only known living descendants of the Doku line, besides Lord Shikage, to have the Jaakuna Te."

Kojama lifted his hand into the air, wishing to ask his mother a question. "Yes, son?" Mako asked, giving Kojama permission to speak. "We're related to Lord Shikage?" Kojama asked with an unstable voice.

Mako nodded. "I am the cousin of Lord Shikage, making you and your brothers his second cousins," she answered. "I suppose, next, you'll want to know why people are so afraid of the hand, since you'd never intentionally touch someone with it," guessed Mako.

Kojama stayed silent, confirming Mako's suspicion. "People in this village do not often trust each other. They believe that at any moment, they can die by another villager's hand, even if that villager is a gentle child like you."

Mako paused, allowing Kojama a small gap of time to ask any more questions he might now have. After receiving no inquiries from her son, she continued. "Not only is wrapping your Jaakuna Te meant to keep you from hurting others, but also to prevent others from hurting you. This is your only warning, Kojama. Never again leave this house unless your hand is wrapped."

Expecting a response, Mako paused once again. Kojama still remained as silent as the body of a deceased soul. "Am I understood?" Mako asked, her voice returning halfway to its regular threatening scratch. Startled, Kojama replied, "Y-Yes, mother."

"Good."

Kojama was relieved to hear this word, for he still could not be entirely sure that he wouldn't receive more discipline. "Now," started Mako, "go back to Mr. Yuten's shop and apologize for the disturbance you caused."

"But I only stopped by there to talk to-" Kojama began to say back to his mother. "I didn't ask, boy, now wrap your hand and go," Mako responded, losing her already limited patience. Kojama wanted very much to persuade his mother to change her mind, but he knew this would never happened.

Kojama sighed, then answered, "Yes, mother."

He got up from the couch, then walked to the kitchen. In the kitchen, there was a drawer which held a few rolls of bandage wrapping. Kojama retrieved one, then began to cover his hand with it. He started by enveloping the thumb, then worked around from finger to finger until he reached the base of his hand. Before long, the entirety of his hand down to the wrist was blanketed in bandaging.

Kojama attempted to rip the bandaging once he was finished, but he could not tear through its fabric. Jiro walked near Kojama, inserting his hand into the same drawer from which the bandaging was taken. He pulled his hand back with a pair of scissors, then held part of the wrapping outstretched before cutting it.

Jiro placed the scissors back in the drawer, proceeding to grab a roll of strong tape. He tore off a piece of relatively small size, stamping it onto the wrapping to hold it together. Once this was done, Kojama returned the bandaging to its drawer, and Jiro did so as well with the scissors before closing the compartment.

Observing his little brother, Jiro could easily see how tired Kojama was, both internally and externally. As he looked at his younger brother, Jiro thought, "Stay strong, Kojama. It's what you're best at." Almost as if he had heard what Jiro was thinking, Kojama took a deep breath and nodded, walking to the door bordering the mud room.

Kojama stood before the door, resting his hand on the doorknob with nowhere near the same enthusiasm that filled him that morning. He now felt that even keeping his eyes open was a strenuous chore. Pushing through, he opened the door and exited the house. Following this, he restored the door to its original position and walked back to Yuten's shop.

The day was now only just reaching the late afternoon. The sun's light and the land's flowing breeze helped ever so slightly to lift Kojama back to his usual high spirits. His steps traveled at less than half the speed of the trek he had taken to the shop earlier that day. Even so, before he knew it, Kojama had been standing outside the shop's curtain door for a second time.

Configuring his posture to that of a more confident boy, Kojama stepped into the shop. Yuten fixed his eyes onto Kojama, who looked at the worker to see the man's familiar smile. However, even Yuten's warm expression did not change Kojama's countenance.

"Welcome back, young man," Yuten greeted him. Kojama said nothing back, worrying Yuten. "What's wrong, bud? You look almost like those two men from earlier with that grim look on your face."

"I'm alright, Yuten. I'm just hear to apologize for the commotion I stirred up earlier."

Yuten raised an eyebrow. "Commotion? Come now, Kojama," Yuten chuckled a bit. "You didn't do anything wrong, those two fellas should've just left you be. It wasn't right of them to be picking fights with a young boy like that."

Kojama walked towards the counter which Yuten stood behind, crossing his arms on top of it and leaning forward to rest himself against it. "I guess you're right. It's just that my mom told me to come say sorry... you know how she is..."

Yuten nodded. "You've got that right. Your mother sure is a Bone Village parent, alright. Just remember that she isn't a bad person, Kojama. She is the way she is because that's all she's known. She was one of the first to ever move to the Bone Village after her cousin, Lord Shikage, founded it. She witnessed the rise of the village and all of its sad cruelty."

Kojama listened as Yuten spoke, but gave no response. Yuten knew this was a sure sign that Kojama wasn't his usual self. Trying to think of a way to restore Kojama's cheerfulness, Yuten suddenly had an idea. Without saying a word, Yuten grabbed a brand new book from the top shelf of one of the book stands, holding it out in front of Kojama.

Kojama looked at the book's cover, which had the same symbol that his shirt held. The title read Shijutsu: The Technique of Karasu Doku And The Hidden Bone Village. It was the latest textbook used in teaching students of the village's ninja academy. Kojama sighed, stating glumly, "I don't have any money with me, I'm sorry."

Yuten let out his trademark chuckle, telling Kojama, "You don't understand, bud. You don't have to buy it. I'm giving it to you."

Kojama lifted his head and looked from the book to the generous shop owner. "Really?" Kojama asked. Yuten nodded, continuing, "You've had a rough day. It's just one book, kid. It's the least I can do for my regular."

At last, Kojama's face began to shape into an example of happiness. Yuten was very glad to see the boy climb out of the emotional hole he had been trapped in, up until that point. "Thank you, Yuten... I don't deserve this, you're so much kinder to me than you should be."

"Stop it, Kojama. You deserve it the most out of anyone in this entire village. You really are the brightest, most sensible young man this village has to offer. Never let anyone change you."

Kojama couldn't believe Yuten's unending generosity. He found himself speechless, shifting his stares between the brand new book's shiny cover, and Yuten's equally bright face and attitude. Kojama finally settled his eyes upon the shop owner, speaking, "I'm really never going to forget you now, Yuten. I promise. We may not be family, but I love you like you were an uncle!"

Yuten smiled and raked his hand through Kojama's hair in a jovial manner. "I know exactly what you mean, bud. I've grown as fond of you as if you were my own nephew, or even son," he admitted to the boy.

For a brief moment, Kojama began to imagine what having Yuten as a father might have been like. Perhaps his mother would not punish him as often or as intensely. Maybe he would get to spend all day reading and discussing what he learned with Yuten. The possibilities flooded Kojama's imagination, which was known to wander off its path of origin as easily as a bicycle with a flat tire.

Yuten looked beyond the gap in the shop's curtain door, and saw the bright yellow of the day's light slowly creep into a tamer orange. Knowing how highly Kojama's mother favored rapidity, Yuten spoke up, interrupting Kojama's daydream. The boy jerked his head the tiniest bit in reaction to Yuten's voice.

"As much as I enjoy your company, I think it's about time you got yourself back home. Your parents wouldn't be pleased if you stayed here until dark with your head in the clouds."

Kojama took a deep breath, then shifted the book into position between his forearm and side, his hand clasping the front and back covers together to prevent the book from either falling or flapping open. "As usual, I guess you're right, Yuten," Kojama said to the worker. "You know what I always say, though. You're welcome back any time, bud. And make sure you get started on that book, or else I might just have to take it back," Yuten joked.

Kojama smiled, then replied, "Of course. I'll start reading it as soon as I get home." Yuten patted the boy's head, happily saying, "Now that's what I like to hear. Little Kojama, as curious as ever." Kojama began to walk towards the shop's curtain, moving it to the side so he could exit. "You be good, bud. Don't make your mother any meaner than she already is," Yuten teased. "I'll try," said Kojama, letting the smallest of laughs escape his voice box.

The two waved goodbye as Kojama left the small shop, eager to return home for the first time in what seemed like decades. His anticipation increased with every step that he took, feeling that his new book was practically calling out his name in desperation to be read. To divert his thoughts away from the book and, in hopes, make the walk home shorter, Kojama looked around in the trees that encompassed the path home.

Kojama's mind began to clear of the day's past obstacles, leaving him feeling like a new person. He had almost completely forgotten about his punishment, until he felt the pressure of the thumb on his right hand rub against the base of his index finger on that same hand. This minuscule occurrence served to remind Kojama of his accursed family trait, in turn triggering the memory of his encounter with the two hostile men in the shop.

Suddenly, an ominous chill swept through his body. Although he could not pinpoint the cause, he now had a sense of danger around him as he passed the halfway mark on his trip home. The trees that comforted him before now stirred his emotions into a vague panic. He could not see any immediate threat to his safety, and yet he could not hope to shake this feeling.

Proving his fears to be justified, two figures took form in his peripheral vision. The shapes made contact with a very unpleasant familiarity. "We got that little Gasen punk now, " said a voice projected from one of the figures.

Now, no uncertainty remained. With the voice revealed, the pair were unmistakable as the couple who had threatened Kojama's safety hours ago. They quickly flanked both sides of the boy and seized his arms in their clutches, just like before. Just the same, Kojama's terror returned in full.

Almost as if he was reenacting the events, Kojama struggled and grunted in attempt to escape the men. This effort was soon proven useless, as the men did not even slightly loosen their hold. Desperation sparked within Kojama, who thoughtlessly screamed out for help.

"Put a lid on it, kid. Don't waste the breath," taunted one of the men. The two laughed in malevolence, relishing in their depraved victory. "Nobody's gonna come rescue you this ti-"

Kojama no longer heard the voices of the men. Once this thought set its weight inside his knowledge, he thereafter discovered that their grip was now only barely clinging to him. He wondered if something might have caught their attention and distracted them.

He slowly turned to look at one of their faces. He was stunned and horrified at what he now saw.

Blood flowed from a deep slice in the neck of the man who was, only seconds ago, boasting about having the upper hand. Kojama screamed, jerking his arm out of the now dead man's grip. The deceased body crashed to the ground. Following suit, the second man's body fell forward until a thud against the dirt path was audible.

The men's blood still excreted, now being reduced from the initial gush to a slowed drip. Kojama's eyes widened in shock, and he currently fought the urge to cry and scream more. Puzzled as to what had brought about the men's mysterious death, Kojama looked all around. He hoped, more than anything, that whatever had killed the men would not end his life as well.

After turning to face opposite of his original direction, Kojama identified yet another person's shape. Alarmed, Kojama fell back, catching himself with his hands as his rear end hit the ground. This man was taller than Jiro, and had a much more frightening stature.

The man was the oldest Gasen brother, Sena. He had been given the nickname of "The Serial Killer Ninja", and was feared almost as much as the Shikage himself. Although it may have appeared as though Sena was saving his baby brother, anyone who knew him personally would have guessed that he simply killed the men for amusement.

Sena and his presence shot the deepest of fear into Kojama. He had heard many accounts and what he believed tall tales of Sena's merciless way of life, but on the ground next to him directly lay two corpses which served as undeniable proof, confirming what Kojama previously hoped false.

"What's wrong, little brother?" Sena asked, smirking evilly. "You've seen blood before, haven't you?"

Kojama could not respond. He found himself totally immobilized with fright. Sena took a dark pleasure in Kojama's horror, visible within his young eyes.

Before he even realized what had happened, a spinning shuriken had rapidly buzzed past Kojama's ear. The circling weapon traveled in a precise line to Sena, who casually moved his hand out in front of him to intercept it.

The shuriken dripped a red fluid, which Kojama soon detected as blood. Moreover, he deduced that it must have been the blood of one of the men. Terrified, Kojama covered his head with his hand and looked around to see if another shuriken would follow the first. This entertained Sena, who then spoke, "Foolish child. This is why I call you my little bother."

Kojama looked again at Sena, confused. Sena sighed, then continued, "This is the only one." He held the shuriken out, implying that Kojama should focus his attention onto it. "I killed them both with this one shuriken."

Kojama backed himself away from the demon he knew as family. He now realized that the single shuriken had left Sena's hand, cut through both of the men, then circled back around like a boomerang to take its current resting place between Sena's fingers.

Now was the moment that Kojama was the most scared of his oldest brother that he had ever been. Sena's confidence almost doubled once he examined the fear in Kojama's young eyes. He casually stepped towards his cowaring little brother. "Don't be such a baby. I just saved you, pipsqueak. Now get up before I tell mom to give you more swats."

Kojama, still shaken with shock, elevated himself with the support of his hands until he stood back up. His posture made his fear even more obvious. The boy's knees rattled as he willed himself to stay upright.

Sena walked towards him with the same powerful swagger he always displayed, but it now seemed to impale Kojama. He rose his arms in a defensive reflex, worried that Sena would attack him. Before he had realized it, Sena had already past Kojama and proceeded to walk the rest of the way to the house. Noticing that Kojama was not following him, Sena then said, "Relax, you little runt. If I was going to hurt or kill you, it would've already happened before you even had time to blink. Now follow me back to the house. We're almost there."

Kojama began to turn around and follow Sena, but stopped when he felt his foot touch his new book. The book was now lightly powdered on the front and back with the path's dirt. Kojama was immensely disappointed in himself, allowing the book to become damaged before he had even made it home with it. He picked the book up and brushed as much of the dirt off of it as he could, then walked quickly to catch up with Sena.

Sena scoffed when he saw Kojama's book, mocking, "You'll never get anywhere by reading that. I'd be surprised if you ever even managed to master one jutsu of our village's technique. You might as well burn that thing, since you'll never make good use of it."

Kojama ignored Sena's teasing, as he was used to his oldest brother's discouraging words. He held the book even tighter by his side, continuing his way to their house.

Within minutes, the two had made it to the home's entrance. Sena impatiently tugged the door open by the knob. Kojama then entered through the open doorway, eager to create distance between him and his seemingly psychotic sibling.

After Sena resealed the door, Mako's shrill voice could be heard. "And just where were you, Sena?" Sena answered, "I was just making sure Kojama made it back to the house safely, mother." The mother shot a demonic glare at Sena, which, surprisingly, didn't seem to affect him.

Acknowledging that her mind trick had not budged Sena, she then turned her gaze away from the man. "Very well, then," she spoke.

She then ordered Kojama to eat and wash both himself and his clothes before he was to go to bed. Kojama respectfully responded, "Yes, mother."

Kojama did as his mother instructed, then prepared himself to go to sleep. He was not yet tired, and he had a small window of time open before he would be pressured to sleep by his parents. Thinking back to his gift, Kojama grabbed his new book from a nightstand next to his bed. He smiled, recalling the moment that Yuten offered it to him.

He slowly opened the book and skipped past the introductory pages including publication and distribution information. A small collection of pages gathered under his bandaged right thumb before he finally got to the actual bulk of the text. Kojama began to learn the detailed history of the Shikage, the founding of the village, and the creation of Shijutsu itself.

He was left in awe by the knowledge contained in this binding of pages. Before long, he had already found himself at least a tenth of the way through the entire book. He had never been so engrossed before. The more he read, the more his appreciation increased towards Yuten for giving him the book.

He learned the very basics of Shijutsu, and the names of some beginner hand signs to correspond with their moves. He also learned about the process that Karasu, the Shikage, went through to create each and every last one of these moves. He learned about the intense self-training that the Shikage pushed himself through; the terrible hardships he faced in his early life; the true reasons that Karasu now appeared as a cold shell of a man.

He developed a sympathy for the Shikage, and an unmatched eagerness to become a Bone Village shinobi.

"Kojama, it's time to sleep."

These words shot Kojama off of the cloud upon which his imagination and education had lifted his spirits. Yet again, Kojama answered to his authoritarian parent. "Yes, mother."

Kojama closed the book, making a mental note of his place within its words, then set it back onto the nightstand adjacent to his bed.

He grabbed the sheet and covering blanket, then pulled them most of the way over his body. Turning onto his side, he gazed out of his bedroom window to observe the night's serenity. With a slight smile, Kojama drifted his eyes to a close. In the same way, he slowly drifted his consciousness to a rest.


	2. The Noble Brother: Hot Blood Burns

Episode 2

The Noble Brother: Hot Blood Burns

Jiro moved into Kojama's room, then to the edge of his bed. It was now morning, although it was a bit earlier than Kojama was accustomed to waking up. He reached his hand out to touch Kojama's arm and lightly shook the boy until he woke up.

"Huh... hm?"

Kojama looked at Jiro, very tired. Despite his open eyes, he was still practically asleep. "Jiro?"

"Hey, little bro. I know it's early, but I thought I could give you a private training session today," Jiro began. "I saw the book you brought home yesterday and I wanna see how much you've learned from it."

Kojama sat up, still in a sluggish daze. Jiro laughed a little as Kojama yawned extravagantly. "I'm up and ready to go by this time every single day, little brother. I have to be to stay at the top of my class in our village's ninja school," Jiro went on.

Kojama slowly lugged himself out of his bed, rubbing his eyes as he walked to his dresser. "I'm sure you've already learned an insane amount, given how fast and how often you read," his big brother encouraged. Kojama nodded, partly to express acknowledgement of Jiro's statement, and partially out of the layer of enervation that wrapped itself around Kojama's being.

Jiro's benevolent presence comforted Kojama, especially after the terrifying event he witnessed the day before. As Kojama assembled his outfit, one piece at a time, Jiro spoke again. "Sena told me about what he did."

Kojama turned to face his brother, now fully dressed, and listened. "I'm sorry you had to witness his ruthlessness, but he did save you. Of course, he could have easily done it without killing the men, but I'm glad he got you out of danger," Jiro continued.

Just the thought of the gruesome sight snapped Kojama's mind out of its tired disposition. The image had lingered within his head ever since that dreadful moment. As much as he wished he couldn't, Kojama could still see the men laying lifelessly; blood dripping from their clean-cut throats. He shuddered, indicating to Jiro that the conversation's subject should be changed.

"Uh... you wanna have some breakfast before we head out?" Jiro asked, hoping to relieve a bit of the tension. To his surprise, Kojama shook his head to decline the offer. "I don't really have an appetite right now," Kojama explained.

Jiro stepped towards his little brother, putting his hand on Kojama's shoulder. This familiar gesture suggested to Kojama that Jiro was going to speak sincerely with him. He looked up into his big brother's eyes as Jiro started, "I know what it's like to see that kind of thing, but you can't let it keep you down, little bro. You're stronger than that, and one day I think you'll show the whole world that I'm right."

It was always difficult for Kojama to stay upset around Jiro for very long. An involuntary smile formed from the corner of Kojama's mouth, which was almost mirrored by Jiro.

Jiro tilted his head towards Kojama's bedroom door, putting his arm around his younger brother's shoulder. The siblings walked out of the room, through the hallway, kitchen, and living room to the door bordering the mud room. Kojama slid his shoes on before the two exited the house.

"Hey, big brother..." Kojama started, catching Jiro's attention. "Mom won't be upset about us training... will she?" Jiro half-expected such a question to arise. "Don't worry, Kojama. As long as you're with me, you'll be alright," he assured his little brother. Kojama let out a sigh of relief, hoping above all else that he would not receive another punishment from his mother like he had gotten the day before.

Jiro led Kojama through the forest surrounding their family's house. This did nothing to aid Kojama in his attempt to forget the previous day's main event. Every step further into the trees breathed more life into that dark memory. Kojama wondered what it would take to shake away the horrible recollection.

The two reached a small clearing, marked in the center with a tree stripped of all of its limbs. Kojama wondered what could have caused the tree's amputations. Answering Kojama's wonder, Jiro said, "This is where I practice the moves I learn at school."

"Do you think the tree is alright with that?" Kojama asked, halfway joking.

In an unserious response, Jiro replied, "I think it just counts itself lucky that I haven't struck it with my Jaakuna Te." The two laughed together as Jiro set himself into position in front of the tree.

It was still quite dark out, with the sun's rising approximately over an hour away. Kojama observed his older brother, unaware of his intentions. "What are you gonna do, big brother?" Kojama asked. As Jiro stood in place, motionless; feet spaced diagonally from each other; knees and elbows bent; hands held together like those of a praying monk; he paused, concentrating, then answered.

"I'm about to show you one of the beginner moves I learned in school. When school starts up here in a month or so, this should be the first move they teach you."

The young man positioned his right hand so that it lay horizontally, fingertips pointing to the left. He then touched his left index finger to his down facing, bandaged right palm. He closed his eyes, inhaling slowly until his lungs were full, then opened his eyes into a narrow focus. His vision was locked tightly onto the tree as he let out his next words, "Decapitation Jutsu." His right hand swung from its original state outward until it was directed straight in front of him.

Synchronized with his movement, the hand pulsed with a strong purple chakra. The chakra formed into a shape similar to a long blade, then traveled through the air at a rapid pace until it reached the top foot of space among the tree's body. Before Kojama's eyes, the chakra created by Jiro's hand casually sliced this top section of the tree off. This section leaped off from its disconnected body, plummeting to the grass below.

Kojama blinked in awe, examining the severed portion of the tree. His amazement soon turned into weariness, leading him to interrogate Jiro one more time.

"Have you used this on... people?"

Jiro turned his attention from his practice target to his kid brother and shook his head in response. "No, Kojama. Although almost all of the other ninjas in our village use those kinds of moves with no hesitation, I try to only use Shijutsu as a last resort." Kojama stayed silent, wishing to hear more. In Kojama's perception, the more Jiro talked, the wiser and wiser he seemed to be. He absorbed every word, a hope manifesting in the back of his mind that one day he might become like his brother.

He had always admired Jiro for various reasons. Kojama viewed Jiro as his idol; the kind of person he'd strive to be for a long time to come. In a sense, Jiro and Sena could be thought of as polar opposites. Whereas Sena brought nothing but fear whenever he came near Kojama, it was nearly inconceivable to be afraid in the presence of Jiro.

The only thing that prevented Kojama from fearing his heroic brother was the fact that the two were family. He hated to imagine what it would be like to battle Jiro, considering he was one of the best ninjas in the entire village. He was glad to have a brother like Jiro and aspired to make him proud. This aspiration pushed him to learn as much as he could from Jiro while he had the chance.

He was grateful that Jiro had offered him the opportunity to study under him first-hand.

Jiro then erected his posture and moved to Kojama until the brothers were less than a yard apart. The younger of the two looked at his elder and awaited the young man's next words.

His wait was not long, for Jiro spoke immediately after he reached Kojama. "I wanna show you how to perform some of the moves I've learned during my time in ninja school. The next school year starts here in a little over a month, so I want to give you a head-start while there's still time. Even the slightest advantage can go a very long way."

Kojama lit up upon hearing this, developing a grin as his brother led him to his previous spot.

With his hand once again rested upon Kojama's shoulder, Jiro led him in front of the tree to the same spot which he had previously stood. As Kojama drifted his focus up and down the battered tree, Jiro spoke with a voice full of certainty and charisma.

"Before I take you down the Shijutsu path, I need to assess your knowledge of other techniques and chakra itself."

At this, Kojama turned his attention from the tree to his mentor. Kojama knew some basics about chakra, but even with the passages he had read from the book in his room, his knowledge was rather limited. The boy's expression of acute apprehension spoke volumes to Jiro. He began to describe important details about the energy known as chakra to clear some of his puzzlement.

"Chakra is the energy we, ninjas, use to perform our moves, or 'jutsus.' It's important to conserve your chakra and choose your jutsus wisely in battle, or your opponent can gain the upper hand. Wasting all your chakra on jutsus that didn't do anything to your enemy can leave you vulnerable to defeat."

Kojama contemplated the description given by his mentor, then nodded. "That makes sense," Kojama responded. "But I have a question."

"What's that?" Jiro returned.

"In my book, it only talked about one technique; the one all of the ninjas in our village use. Why doesn't it talk about any others?"

Jiro had hoped his sibling would show curiosity towards this particular fact. He gladly countered his pupil's inquiry, "Well, Lord Shikage despises the other villages in this world, so he's made it illegal for the school to teach any techniques other than the two that he uses, Shijutsu and Shinjutsu. Furthermore, he's also banned any and all books that teach about the other techniques or even the other villages. I'd be surprised if any ninja in this village ever learns a different technique."

The boy's interest burned with more intensity. Answering his next question in his own mind, Kojama remembered reading that as a youth, the Shikage had experienced torment and ostracism because of the Jaakuna Te that he and his father possessed. Kojama was saddened beyond belief when he discovered that the death of the Shikage's parents had been brought about by the third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, leading to the disdain and resentment the Shikage held towards the other lands.

This recollection sparked a sympathy in Kojama; a longing to meet the Shikage and observe the aftermath of these tragic events with his own eyes. He wondered what he might say to the Shikage, if he was to become acquainted with the man.

Pulling his younger brother's attention back, Jiro resumed his lesson. "The thing about Shijutsu is that it's different from most other techniques," he detailed.

"How so?" Kojama asked.

"Shijutsu is a very violent technique. All of the moves in the technique were designed specifically to seriously injure, cripple, or kill the target that they're used on. That's why I only train on this tree when I'm practicing the ones that I know."

Kojama absorbed the information smoothly, once again scanning up and down the length of the mangled tree. "Now little bro, I think it's time you learned your first move, the Decapitation Jutsu."

"Decapitation Jutsu? For my first move?" Kojama inquired, slightly nervous and intimidated.

Jiro nodded. "Don't you remember how I said it was the first move they teach the freshmen of the school? Those who can't get it down are kicked out and have to wait until the next school year to go again. That's why it's important that you learn it now, so you'll have more time to focus on other moves instead of worrying about being expelled."

"Do you think I can do it?"

"I know you can, Kojama. I can see it in your eyes," Jiro encouraged.

Mentally preparing himself, Kojama shifted his feet until he found a stance that felt the most solid. When he was ready, he responded, "Alright, let's do it."

Jiro cracked a smile, assuming the position he had struck when he first demonstrated the move. "First off, you're gonna wanna get the hand sign down. Shijutsu hand signs are different from most others in the fact that they're a bit more simple. This one is a good example; all you do is hold your right hand up horizontally, making sure that it points to the left. Your arm should be bent so that your thumb touches your chest."

Kojama hesitantly mimicked Jiro's movements, relocating his bandaged right hand so that its thumb made contact with his chest as per Jiro's instruction.

"Next, you want your left index finger to point into the palm of your right hand," Jiro informed his pupil as he lifted his index finger in the described fashion.

Unlike before, Jiro's hands did not glow with the purple chakra at this point. Without this glow, the pose seemed much less threatening. Had Kojama not witnessed the move from his older brother earlier, he would not believe that this position was used for such a disastrous strike.

Following suit, Kojama touched the tip of his left index finger to his right palm. After this, he listened as Jiro continued teaching.

"The last part of the move is the most important. There are other moves in Shijutsu that use this same setup position, so making the incorrect movement can lead to a move that you might not have wanted to do.

"Watch closely," directed Jiro, as he flicked his hand out in front of himself in the same way that he had during the initial demonstration. Of course, with no chakra pulsing from either hand, the move did nothing to the tree in front of the brothers.

In a trace of disbelief, Kojama replayed the simple movement in his mind before seeking confirmation from his instructor. "It's that easy?"

This question amused Jiro, for he knew it was a matter of time until Kojama grasped the simplicity of this deadly move. "You bet, and just the fact that you'd ask that proves my point;" he went on, "if you already understand it just from watching me display it a couple times, then I'm sure you'll have it mastered faster you can say 'Shikage.'"

"So..." the student started, "like this?" Kojama swooped his arm out in front of him much like Jiro had shown him, met with a congratulatory confirmation from the older brother. "Right, just like that."

Kojama remained uncertain. Even with the reassurance from his role model, one fact caused him to question his performance of the move; no chakra had generated from either of his hands. He thought for certain that if he had completed the move with the success that his brother suggested, at least a small amount of chakra would've been visible.

"I know what you're thinking," said Jiro, interrupting Kojama's self-conscious train of thought, "but don't worry about it. I was just about to get to that part."

"What part is that?"

Jiro stood up straight, looking directly down at Kojama's feet. "Your stance is off, you'll never produce enough chakra for this move with that footing."

Kojama studied his own feet, then attempted to recall the stance that Jiro had assumed before. His efforts, however, produced no answer.

"Again, just watch me. More specifically, pay careful attention to my knees and feet," directed Jiro. As per his instructions, Kojama beared witness as Jiro flawlessly reenacted the pose he had already shown off.

Although the footing and posture of his lower body were identical, there was one glaring difference; Jiro did not form his hands into the hand sign required for the move's proper execution. Unknown to Kojama, this exclusion was intentional on Jiro's behalf to draw focus away from his upper body and funnel all attention to his legs.

In this same moment, the young man's legs were positioned such that his right foot was noticeably further ahead of the left, with their diagonally separating distance little less than a yard. His knees were bent slightly almost as if he was preparing to leap forward.

Kojama noted every detail concerning his older brother's position. "Try and stand like this," said Jiro. Kojama slowly rearranged his feet to mimic the stance assumed by his brother, second-guessing every movement along the way.

"Don't be so nervous, little bro, you're doing just fine. Keep yourself standing steadily just like that, then focus your chakra and use the hand sign. I'm sure you'll slice right through that tattered old tree."

Kojama lightly bit his lip, trying with all his might to summon even the smallest portion of confidence that his mentor possessed. After an internal and seemingly eternal battle against his doubts, Kojama proceeded as his brother had told him to.

He closed his eyes to gain a stronger sense of focus, then drew from within him more chakra than he'd ever known himself able to procure. His joy and satisfaction were the highest they had been in a very long time. However, dwelling on these thoughts would distract the boy from continuing, so he repelled these mental notions and began to bring his hands to their required positions in front of him.

As his hands reached their appropriate places, the chakra pulsed furiously and seemed to generate at an even faster rate than before. Kojama had only ever felt the constant pulsation of chakra from his right hand, but now he felt a warm tingle surround his left as if he had submerged the hand within a hot spring. The sensation provided a simultaneous sense of excitement and peace, calming the boy and allowing him to finally extract the confidence he'd been searching for.

"Decapitation Jutsu!" yelled Kojama, as though his life had been leading up to this exact moment. As these words left him, his right hand glided swiftly through the air and released a strong, blade-like stream of chakra. This stream travelled through the air at what appeared akin to the speed of light, slicing through the top chunk of what was left of the tree.

A wave of shock stunned Kojama as he wondered if he had actually performed the move correctly. He fixed his feet into a more casual standing, shifting his eyes from the chunk of sliced wood, which lay closer than a foot next to the block cut by Jiro, to his older brother. His mentor expressed a look only barely comparing to how impressed he really was with his student sibling.

Kojama held his breath in anticipation of his teacher's next words, which came shortly after.

"That was great, Kojama! Very well done for your first try! See, you had nothing to worry about. I said that you could do it and I was right."

The brothers shared wide grins as they both stepped closer to examine the severed chunk of the tree. Once they stood close enough, Jiro pointed at the one chopped by Kojama. "Take a look at that, little brother. You cut clean through that thing, really nice work. Your chakra control is amazing for your age."

To hear such positive words from Jiro fueled Kojama, causing his soul to jump with excitement and avidity towards learning more. Supporting Kojama's eagerness, Jiro spoke again, "I'm sure you noticed how the tree has no branches."

Kojama once again gave a glance to the amputated plant as Jiro continued, "I managed to cause this by using the Dismemberment Jutsu. It's a bit more advanced than the Decapitation Jutsu, but it's still actually a beginner move. Maybe in our next session, I'll teach it to you."

"That sounds great," Kojama responded with a smile.

"Now, stand back a good bit, little brother. I'm gonna show you one more Jutsu before we head back to the house," Jiro said.

Kojama did as Jiro suggested, backing up away from the tree as his older brother set himself up in a stance very different from that of the Decapitation Jutsu. He had no clue what kind of move Jiro could be preparing for, and waited to view the payoff of his anticipation.

The 11-year-old boy's breath stopped in a small gasp as Jiro tore the wrapping from off of his Jaakuna Te, unleashing the fierce violet bloom of the appendage. Recalling the day before, Kojama had half a mind to ask Jiro if he'd gone insane, yet held his tongue to give Jiro enough time to reveal his intentions behind the peculiar action. The valiant role model held his burning hand before his face, almost as if he was studying the creases of his palm. He then seamlessly curled his hand into a fist, drawing it out to the side of his head.

No sound was born after the completion of this strange movement, nearly driving Kojama to believe he'd gone deaf. Jiro smirked, then composed himself into his casual form. "What are you starin' at me for, little bro?" began Jiro, "Just take a look at the tree." He pointed ahead of himself to the abused tree.

What met Kojama's gaze was a withered excuse for what was only moments ago a living plant. The boy began to believe for a moment that the real tree was somewhere else, leading him to crane his neck in attempt to find it nearby. Jiro snickered as he watched his brother's perplexed motions. "It's called the Life-Rest Jutsu," explained the older sibling.

The younger of the two had never before heard of this move. He had no clue as to how the move worked, guessing mentally that Jiro must have simply killed the tree by performing the technique. Seeking verification of this suspicion, Kojama asked, "Did you kill it?"

"Technically, yes, but only temporarily."

"Temporarily?" echoed Kojama.

Jiro nodded. This stirred even more dubiety within the boy, for he could not imagine how something could be only temporarily dead. "I think you're going to have to tell me how this one works, big brother. I can't wrap my head around it," Kojama admitted with a tinge of dismay.

"It's simpler than you think, bud. In a nutshell, the Life-Rest Jutsu makes a small pocket in the target that all of their energy is sucked into. The energy stays in that pocket for a varied amount of time depending on how well the move was executed."

Kojama processed these words silently as Jiro continued, "Since I was just giving you a simple demonstration, I didn't put too much strength behind the move. The tree should be back to normal within the next hour or so."

The younger brother was astonished by his idol's skill. He hung on the words that had said how Jiro had only put a small portion of effort into the move he used, leaving Kojama wondering what the limits of his older brother's strength really were. This further expanded the already giant praise that Kojama had for Jiro.

"I'll never get over how awesome you are, Jiro!" Kojama exclaimed. Yet again, Jiro chuckled then replied, "With enough practice, you're sure to become as 'awesome' as me." The older sibling winked to his enthusiastic student.

"Teach me that move, Jiro! Please! I wanna learn the Life-Rest Jutsu!" begged the excited Kojama. Jiro shook his head in response, "I'm sorry, little bro, but I'm afraid that move's too advanced for you right now. Maybe when you're older."

Kojama became disheartened at this answer, deciding to try and reason with his older brother, "Oh, come on big brother. You learned it, didn't you? And you already said I'm a fast learner, how can you say no?"

The mentor sighed and wrapped his arm around his younger sibling's shoulder. "Listen, Kojama. The Life-Rest Jutsu is a very dangerous move. They don't even teach it in the ninja school, I had to learn it from an ancient scroll written by the Shikage himself." Kojama looked up at his brother, who seemed to tower over him in both size and wisdom.

"It's not that I don't think you can do it, that's not it at all. I just don't think you should. If it's performed incorrectly, the target can die permanently instead of temporarily. Please don't try it until you're ready, little brother."

"If you say so..." Kojama sadly agreed. "Trust me, it's for the best Koja," said Jiro as he pulled Kojama closer into a side-by-side hug. The use of this nickname helped ever so slightly to cheer up the young boy.

Jiro's face then switched to one of concern as he looked around their surroundings. Concerned himself, Kojama asked, "What is it, big brother?"

"Oh, it's nothing, Kojama," Jiro responded, still scanning the area. "I think you should head back to the house, though. It's almost lunch time and you haven't even had breakfast yet."

Directly on cue, Kojama's stomach began to growl like an agitated guard dog.

"Aren't you gonna come back too?" Kojama asked, worried about his mentor.

"I'll catch up with you in a little while. I'm gonna do some more practicing until I get my newest move mastered."

Kojama sensed that there was a hint of untruthful hesitation in Jiro's words. However, the boy trusted his brother enough to heed his words and begin walking back to the house. He bid a temporary farewell, "Well, alright. Good luck, Jiro. See you back inside."

Jiro nodded and gave a wave to his kid brother, which was returned as Kojama walked the relatively short distance back to their home. While he walked, Kojama noticed a strange feeling as if someone was watching him, but he dismissed this suspicion and set foot back within the house before he knew it. His mother sat upon her usual spot on the couch, her face as cold and lifeless as ever.

"Where have you been?" she asked, her sharp voice scratching through Kojama.

"Jiro was just training me a little before school starts, mother," Kojama carefully and respectfully answered.

Mako made no further demands, statements, or inquiries, relieving Kojama. He slipped his shoes off in the mud room and passed through the living room to the opposite end of it, where a window roughly Kojama's own size looked out to the forest. The boy stared thoughtfully out to the gathering of trees and flowers, which seemed ironically beautiful compared to the dark natured village. He closed his eyes and began to pray for Jiro's safety.

Meanwhile, Jiro composed himself and spoke aloud, "Alright, Sena. Come on out."

In the branches of a tree directly behind Jiro, undetected by Kojama, Sena hid stealthily. He had been observing the two all morning, ever since they first arrived. Sena smirked and jumped to the ground from out of the branches. "Impressive, so you finally caught on, huh?" Sena mocked.

"I've known you were there the whole time, Sena. You're not quite as sneaky and clever as you think."

"Is that so?"

A tense silence built between the two. Jiro could see Sena's intention simply by studying his eyes. Although the two had nearly identical eyes, Jiro could read those of his demented senior like a book. He knew Sena was soon to engage in his typical conversation insulting Jiro's benevolent ways.

All too predictably, Sena spoke, "You know, you really oughta give up on this whole mercy and compassion stuff. You and that kid both need to man up if you're going to be Bone Village ninjas."

Jiro scoffed and stepped towards Sena, now defensive after hearing his derogatory referencing towards Kojama. "That 'kid' is our brother, Sena. No matter how much you try to distance yourself from us, we're still your brothers."

Sena shook his head, clicking his tongue as Jiro paced around him. "Brothers, huh?" Sena's eyes narrowed and his body language morphed to that of an offensive stance, easily detected by Jiro.

Almost suddenly, Sena rushed forward with his shoulder dropped. Jiro calmly stepped out of Sena's path and avoided the ramming the aggravated man intended to deliver. This simple move was all it took to catch Sena off guard, causing him to nearly stumble. He regained his footing then reached into his tool pouch, which was kept on his right hip.

"How did you dodge me so casually?" Sena asked, huffing and puffing out of both frustration and fatigue.

Jiro laughed then answered, "Oh, big brother. You made it all too obvious. I know that look you get when you're ready to hit me, and even if I hadn't seen that monstrous look in your eyes, I still would've seen how many hints your movements gave to your attack. To put it simply, brother, I could've seen you coming from a mile away."

Now more annoyed than ever, Sena gripped a kunai throwing knife from inside his tool pouch. He gripped the handle of the weapon tightly with his index and middle finger. In one swift motion, Sena drew the weapon out and launched it at Jiro. With the flick of Sena's wrist and elbow, the knife sliced through the wind and effortlessly stabbed into Jiro's flesh and bone. A grunt was heard as the point of the weapon cut deeply into Jiro's chest.

Although the knife had not hit a lethal spot, it was definitely enough to seriously injure Jiro. Sena looked at his struck target with great satisfaction, letting out a maniacal chuckle as he watched and listened as Jiro grunted in pain.

Then, right before Sena's eyes, Jiro vanished in an instant, leaving behind only a mysterious cloud. No blood marked the ground that Jiro had stood upon, but Sena's kunai lay just between the footprints where Jiro had stood.

Sena's eyes shot out of their focused, narrowed fixation into a frantic panic, looking around in a dumbfounded state of exasperation. He began to wonder if he was simply imagining things; if Jiro had placed him within a Genjutsu trap. He ran through a large mental list of possibilities as he spun around, still attempting to locate the position of his escaped target.

At this time, the real Jiro observed his reckless older brother in amusement. What Sena did not know was that the young man he had hit with the sharp projectile was simply a shadow clone created by Jiro. Not only had this clone fought against Sena, but all along it had been the one instructing Kojama. The true Jiro watched silently from the trees the entire morning, even spotting Sena, who thought himself clever by hiding in a tree's branches before Kojama and the clone reached the training spot.

Where Jiro succeeded and Sena failed was the use of lighting in their hiding places. Sena would have been completely hidden to Jiro's clone, had light not been shining through the top leaves which encased the branches Sena crouched upon. Both Jiro and his clone had no trouble discovering Sena's whereabouts, whereas Sena never once had a clue as to the actual Jiro's position.

The veil of young ignorance prevented Kojama from discovering either of the hidden two: the original Jiro and the demented Sena. Had Kojama noticed the stealthy and cunning Jiro, he would have realized that the feeling of being watched he perceived had been the result of Jiro watching over him to ensure his safety as he walked back to their house.

After this, the original watched as his clone and his older brother did battle. One could hardly call it a battle, though, after seeing the ease that Jiro's duplicate had in dodging the outlandish charge of Sena's first attack. Had the copy actually been trying, he could have easily managed to evade the kunai knife and defeat Sena all without breaking the tiniest sweat.

But the fight was over now, the least of Jiro's worries and the most of Sena's. The man desperately examined the entirety of his immediate surroundings in hopes to locate Jiro, all without even the slightest amount of luck. Jiro smiled as he viewed the confused face of his brother, then decided enough was enough. He turned away from his brother and began to walk back to the house to meet back up with Kojama, just like his clone had said.

Thoughts of pity crossed Jiro's mind, a sympathy building for his senior. He felt rather sorry that Sena had to live so blinded by his negative emotions, and began to wonder if some day he might be able to deter his brother away from his unfortunately chosen way of life. He reminisced on the days when the two were younger, when Sena was a much kinder and happier boy. A tear began to form in the lining of his eyelid once the memories of the two playing together filled his mind.

He stopped for a moment and closed his eyes in attempt to be rid of the tear. His lip quivered minutely as he spoke to the wind, "Oh, brother... you weren't always such a sorry man. It was you who taught me the good in this village. If only I could make you see that that's the way to truly live, instead of the strange path you've now taken."

He turned his head back in the direction of the forest, where Sena was likely still hanging around. "I miss you, Sena. Hopefully, you'll come back to your senses one day. I'll welcome you back with open arms when that happens."

He breathed deeply, then turned once again to face the direction that the Gasen house lay. A series of slow steps took him from the woods back to the house.

As Jiro made his way closer to the house, Kojama grinned from ear to ear. He was joyful in seeing his older brother make it back safely. He sprang up from his crouched position, which he had sat in ever since he began praying for his brother some short while ago. The boy began to run to the door to happily greet Jiro, but Mako strongly interjected Kojama's exaggerated movements, "No running in the house, boy."

Her chilling voice seemed to freeze Kojama's veins, slowing his footsteps to that of an almost dreadful lugging. His steps continued towards the door, until his mother once again rose her nearly demonic and demanding tone, "Excuse me. Acknowledge me when I am speaking to you, boy." As she ordered this, the woman locked her son's wrist within her vice grip.

Kojama only barely avoided having a heart attack and let out a frightened response, "Yes, mother. I'm s-sorry." He attempted to jerk his wrist away from his mother, whose grasp did not budge. Her jaw was visibly clenched to demonstrate her irritation with the fearful boy.

Unable to find the will to begin an arbitrary punishment session with the boy's arm, Mako released Kojama's wrist. The boy found himself very grateful and soon felt his heart slow back down to a normal rate. After this, a rattling originating from the doorknob called to Kojama and influenced the boy into looking in the door's direction. A gasp of happiness and excitement expelled from the boy as the door swung open on its hinges to reveal Jiro.

The boy intercepted Jiro's path and hugged the young man. Jiro smiled and asked, "What's this all about?" Kojama tightened his arms around his brother and answered, "I'm just glad you're back, big brother." Jiro playfully ruffled Kojama's hair as the boy released his arms from the older brother's waist.

Kojama's stomach then roared again, indicating to Jiro that the boy had still not eaten. "Little bro, you didn't eat when you came home, did you?" Jiro asked, although he already knew the answer. Kojama confirmed this by looking down in silence, a common gesture used by the boy when he had become disappointed in himself.

"Hey, come on Koja. I'm not trying to be hard on you, I just wish you'd worry about yourself as much as you worry about me," explained Jiro.

Kojama looked back up to lock eyes with his caring brother and wiped away his dreary expression. The older of the two led Kojama by the shoulder to the kitchen, where Jiro generously and expertly prepared a lunch for the two of them. As he cooked, Mako cautioned the boy to not waste anything he used. Jiro acknowledged the warning and continued to cook as Kojama's stomach seemed to become more impatient by minute.

Following his completion of the meal's preparation, Jiro placed the food onto the table. Kojama looked at the delicacies before his eyes and felt his mouth water. "Thank you, Jiro," Kojama said in expression of his gratitude.

"Think nothing of it, Koja. We all need to eat. If we should thank anyone, it's our mother for teaching me to cook," the older brother responded.

"Lower your voices. You know how I feel about loud noise," Mako ordered.

"Of course, mother, I'm sorry," Jiro apologized.

Nothing more was uttered from the woman, still sitting motionless in the living room couch. Jiro then bowed his head with his eyes closed and his hands together. At first, Kojama couldn't determine what his sibling was doing, but he quickly realized his older brother was praying as he always did before he ate. The younger of the two immediately replicated Jiro's position and action, silently praying for his whole village.

Jiro had taught Kojama to wish fortune upon all of the Bone Village, no matter how corrupted and negative its inhabitants may have seemed. The boy could almost hear his brother's words from years ago that told him how no person deserved any better or worse than another. In his young age, Kojama took these words to heart and now applied them as he prayed.

As the two finished their prayers, their eyes opened in synchronization. Their heads tilted up and their eyes locked. In this moment, a ray of light being transmitted through the window shined off of Jiro's reflective metal forehead protector. The headband bore the customary symbol of the village; two pairs of vertical lines separated by what would appear to be a capital version of the letter "U". The symbol looked similar to two faces, one smiling and one frowning, sharing the same mouth.

The headband was worn by every honorary ninja of the Hidden Bone Village, assigned to a ninja in their sophomore year of the village's ninja academy. Jiro had now had the protector for over a year, as he was to be a senior once the upcoming school year started.

Kojama had noticed the headband before, but it now stood out especially due to the light twinkling off of it's plated surface. The shimmering plate sent Kojama into a hypnotic spell of admiration. The armoring perfectly complemented Jiro's already formidable appearance.

Jiro broke his glance away from his younger brother and began to eat, while Kojama simply continued to stare at the headband. Noticing Kojama's stillness, Jiro ceased his eating and asked, "Somethin' wrong, little bro?"

Snapping out of his trance, Kojama blinked then shook his head. He answered, "No. Nothing's wrong. I was just looking at your headband."

Jiro lightly held the metal piece of the headband between his thumb and index finger.

"What? This old thing? It's nothing special, Koja. I'm sure you'll get your own before you know it," he encouraged.

Jiro's was not just any run-of-the-mill headband, however. It was a uniquely crafted headband tailored by the Shikage himself; the very first headband of the entire village's history. Kojama had read about Jiro's exact headband in his textbook and viewed it as something of a holy relic resting upon Jiro's head.

"Maybe, but it won't be like yours," Kojama stated with a faint sadness. Jiro thought for a moment, then smiled slightly. Kojama wondered what the cause of this smile was as he continued to mope.

"How about this?" Jiro began, capturing Kojama's attention. "When you make it into our village's ninja academy, I'll give you my headband. I can easily get another."

Kojama tilted his head in surprise. The boy replied, "But yours is one of a kind."

"Well, so are you," said Jiro.

Kojama was honored to hear such an offer, but could not will himself to accept it. "You worked hard for it. I can't just take it as a handout," the boy refused.

"Stop it, Kojama. Listen to me," returned Jiro in an uncharacteristically demanding tone. "I've seen how hard you've worked. In truth, you deserve this headband more than I do. It's not just a handout, little bro. I want you to have it."

The boy wanted very much to come up with something to say against this, and Jiro could see this desire in his face, but he instead thanked Jiro. This thanking was met with a response typical of Jiro, "It's no problem, Koja. I'll be proud to see you wearing this headband and becoming a fine addition to our village's ninja ranks."

Even if Kojama was not surprised to hear this kind of encouragement from Jiro, it still meant the world to the boy. He was made speechless by his idol's unending kindness.

"Now, get to eating, bud. I worked hard on that food, so you better clean that plate," Jiro playfully told his younger sibling.

Kojama smiled then nodded, beginning to devour the meal Jiro had prepared for him. Jiro did the same until the two slowly, but steadily erased the contents of their plates.

Their day continued on as normal for the two. The house was still filled with its usual silence, due to their mother's particular hatred of loud noise. A television on the opposite side of the living room from the couch remained off, making its placement in the house seem pointless.

The hours inched continuously closer to night. With each crawling hour, Kojama daydreamed about the day he might receive Jiro's headband. The thought stamped a nearly permanent smile on the boy's face for the remainder of the day.

When the time came, Mako ordered Kojama to take care of various daily tasks. Despite the mundane and soul-draining nature of the tasks, Kojama kept his smile. This slightly perplexed Mako, but the woman made no comment on it.

Following Kojama's completion of the menial tasks assigned to him by his mother, the woman then commanded that the boy go to bed. He did so rather happily, settling himself into bed in his nighttime wear and picking up his textbook with pure excitement.

He had no trouble at all with finding the place in the book he'd left off at the night before. His eyes blazed through page after page until he decided he'd taken in enough new information, leading him to read back from the first page and review what he'd already learned.

Just as he caught back up to his current spot in the book, his mother familiarly demanded that he sleep. He closed his book back like it had been not long ago, then looked out his bedroom window like he did every night.

He became lost in his own thoughts, drifting his contemplation from his training with Jiro to the mysteries and hidden intricacies of his home village. As these thoughts floated freely through the boy's mind, his eyes slowly and steadily closed until he fell asleep.


	3. Cold Shikage: Mission Accepted

Episode 3

Cold Shikage: Mission Accepted

The grey eyes of Kojama sprang to life as he awoke to darkness. The sun was still far beneath the horizon, resting as Kojama was moments ago. Since nothing startled the boy, and he couldn't recall having a nightmare, this sudden waking puzzled him.

He considered trying to close his eyes and return to sleep, but he was oddly wide awake. This sudden alertness baffled the boy as he rattled his mind to search for its cause.

The time was even earlier than it was when Jiro woke him the morning before. Still, the boy figured the hour was surely closer to morning than midnight. With no clock or watch to rely upon, he had only his perception of how long he felt like he had slept. How well-rested he felt would've led the boy to believe he had slept through the entire night, if only the sky wasn't still drowned in darkness and starlight.

He sat up, his lap covered by the thin white sheet which separated him and the comforter blanket. The overlaying comforter was contorted into more of a messy pile than a blanket. This suggested to Kojama that his sleep had not been as peaceful as he was led to believe. He looked at the comforter, then at the sheet which veiled his Indian-style crossed legs.

"That's weird... I feel like I slept like a baby. Why's my blanket all messed up?" he asked himself aloud.

He scratched his head, then shrugged it off. With sleep far out of his reach, he decided to pass the time by reading his book until the sun's rise. He then retrieved the book from his nightstand. Once the book dropped from his hand into his lap, it opened up to a seemingly random page which he hadn't yet read.

Although Kojama wouldn't typically skip around in a book, an image on this particular page interested the boy. The image was of a large and menacing creature. A caption in small print below the picture read "The fabled Negative-Tails," with a number and letter designating which diagram it was in the book. The picture was not captured by a camera, but painted by an unnamed artist with immense presumable talent.

"Huh? I've never heard of a 'Negative-Tails' before... it looks kinda freaky," noted Kojama.

The creature appeared to be a large translucent blaze of dark purple chakra, similar to the chakra which the Jaakuna Te emitted. Visible beneath the monster's makeshift skin were large bones that didn't seem to connect in any structurally stable order. They looked as though they were suspended, floating inside the creature.

No unique facial or bodily features were immediately noticeable to Kojama, besides two intimidating shining blood-red eyes. In some ways, it looked like a creature parents would tell their children about if they had misbehaved. The spectral beast was depicted surrounded by woods, with a large pond in the background.

The boy began to read from the page, and learned about the beast. He discovered that the beast was a legend centered in the Bone Village, and that the creature was supposedly all that remained of the Ten-Tails' body and spirit. The book detailed that the legend was largely believed by Sena Doku, the Shikage's grandfather (and the man whom Kojama's oldest brother had been named after).

As far as Kojama could possibly recall, he had never even heard of such a creature, but counted himself lucky that he hadn't met the beast. The boy thought of the mysterious being as the living incarnation of death itself, and hoped strongly that he would never have the misfortune of becoming acquainted with its ferocious form.

Fearing he'd delved too far into unknown territory, Kojama closed the book and returned it to its place atop the nightstand.

Soon after, a tug in the back of his mind began to make him wonder if he had in fact seen the creature somewhere before. Despite his memory saying otherwise, he couldn't shake the feeling that he did recognize the nightmarish thing. He knew for certain that he had never witnessed it in his consciousness, but perhaps he had seen it when he was asleep.

Suddenly, a revelation struck the boy, increasing his heartbeat immensely. He had seen the creature in a dream. This same dream was what caused his curious awakening. He deduced that the dream had slipped from his memory the moment his eyes opened, and only upon seeing the same creature he saw in the dream did the vision return.

Dreams were a curious thing for the boy. His family rarely ever discussed the dreams that they had, as his parents discouraged such outlandish thinking. Nevertheless, Kojama enjoyed most of the dreams he had, even if they may be nightmares. The limited enjoyment he found in his nightmares lied in the fact that they helped him discover what he needed to work on about himself, improving himself best as he could. Following this trend, Kojama consciously decided to interpret the ghastly apparition in his dream as a challenge to discover more about the nature and history of the faux animal.

During this decision, Kojama fixed his eyes upon his window, seeing that the moon was still a good height in the sky. He wished he'd had a clock or similar tool to find out what the exact time was, instead of being stranded in a craving to know that was left as dark as that night itself.

Juxtaposing this darkness was the large moon, which the boy always found to be beautiful. He admired the fact that no matter how dark any given night may be, the moon would be there without fail to give light to those seeking it, even if the moon may not even be visible. Lost in untamed thought, he considered how his big brother Jiro was almost synonymous with the great moon. He began to hope that he might one day be for someone else what Jiro was for him, and what the bright moon was for thousands around the world.

This hope led the boy to the idea of training while the sun was still down so that he might become one step closer to the greatness he perceived from his brother. He followed this intuition by dressing himself in his typical daytime clothing, all while keeping as silent as he possibly could, then slowly making his way to the exit of the house, just as quietly. Apprehension developed in the back of his mind, as the boy feared what his mother might say or do, should she be displeased with his leaving of the house so early. Despite this, the boy carefully opened the door, keeping the squeaking of the doorknob and creaking of the door's wood and hinges to a minimum.

Once he stood with his back to the closed door, he shifted his gaze around the serene night sky. A deep breath in calmed the boy and created a slight smile from the corner of his mouth as the moonlight reinforced his certainty in his actions. Along with this certainty came an increase in his heart rate. Kojama had never gone somewhere on his own at night like this, so as his feet made contact with the barely discernible pathway before him, he felt a tingle sweep through him.

He relished this feeling for a short time before noticing that he had made it to Jiro's practice clearing. He focused his attention on the disfigured tree in the center of the clearing, which was scarred from Jiro's countless attacks aimed at it.

Time's flow seemed to fluctuate as he channeled his chakra and concentration, preparing to attack the tree with a force that even Jiro himself might have envied had he witnessed it. This moment alone made way for a maturity which indicated a good chance of the boy reaching his brother's brand of enhanced intelligence and skill, although he could not have possibly imagined this as the case. All he could imagine in this moment was the tree before him sliced into by his jutsu, and as quickly as he imagined this, he opened his eyes to find that his focused movements had created a scene identical to what he'd pictured. This performance felt nearly effortless to Kojama, lifting his spirits more than he could believe.

These lifted spirits made it all the easier to chop at the tree again and again with the jutsu. He kept at it again and again until he could fine-tune his movements to the point that he could slice smaller and smaller increments, eventually resulting in thin layers of wood similar to scroll paper flying from the top of the tree.

Time's conceptual fluctuation, combined with the increased ease the boy found in this practice, seemed to zoom the hours forward, because the sun's light began blanketing the trees before Kojama even had time to realize. Before he could even acknowledge it, the darkness crept backwards into the trees' shadows, becoming miniscule remnants of the ocean it started as.

A rustling and crunching of leaves and twigs in the distance behind him nearly made the boy leap from out of his own skin. The sound came from the footsteps of his older brother, Jiro. Jiro put his hand on Kojama's shoulder and opened his mouth as if to speak to the boy, but found himself frozen once his gaze fell upon the target practice dummy of a tree and all the wood which surrounded it due to Kojama's hard work.

"Little bro, did you do all that?" Jiro asked.

Kojama's mind snagged, unable to respond for a rough five seconds. When this response came, it surfaced in the form of a small, silent nod. Jiro smiled and released his light grip from the boy's shoulder, stepping towards the many wooden chips.

"Wow... in the course of a morning, you've improved more than I ever managed to in a week, Koja." Jiro shook his head in amazement.

Kojama felt honored that his brother seemed to be impressed with his work. "I couldn't sleep, so I came out here and started working on my Decapitation Jutsu," explained the boy, cheeks slightly red from the flattered feeling surging within him.

"Well, I gotta say, you've done a great job little bro. I wonder..."

Kojama had no idea what might be running through his brother's head. Then, as if to answer his thoughts, Jiro spoke. "The Shikage is summoning my squad and me to his palace to address our next mission to us. Would you want to come along with me and meet him?"

The boy's eyes widened greatly as his jaw dropped. After a few seconds, Kojama snatched himself out of the dumbfounded expression. He asked, "Meet the Shikage? Are you serious?" He had always wanted to meet the Shikage personally, and now Jiro was offering him the chance directly. He couldn't possibly refuse the chance and live with it.

"I mean, you don't have to, I just thought it might be a neat idea-"

"Of course I want to meet him, big brother!" Kojama exclaimed.

The older sibling seemed to know this might be the boy's response, as he just smiled and nodded in satisfaction. "Alright, come on, then." Jiro turned around so his back was facing Kojama. "Hop on, I'll run you there."

Happier and more nervous than he could remember being in a long time, Kojama stepped forward and performed a small jump upward, latching onto Jiro's shoulders and hugging the older brother's sides with his knees.

"Settled in?" Jiro asked. "Uh huh," the boy's answer escaped him without him realizing it. Jiro then raised his knee as if to begin running then said, "Alright, hold on tight-"

"Wait!" Kojama belted out.

"What is it Koja?" inquired Jiro, concerned. He hoped he hadn't scared Kojama. "Would Mom be mad about me going with you..?" The boy's voice shook slightly as he asked this and Jiro could feel his younger brother's heartbeat increase in speed minutely.

"She might be, but between you and me, what Mom doesn't know won't hurt her," Jiro comforted, turning to wink at his backpack of a sibling. The living backpack known as Kojama smiled and tightened his grip on Jiro's shoulders in response, and the two were soon bolting along through the village.

The flowers lining the ground and the grass surrounding them blurred together into a portrait of serenity as Kojama was carried by his brother through the small wooded area and onto the path which served as a straight shot into their village. Only a mere couple of steps were taken on the path itself before Jiro shot up into the air, shouting, "Hang on, Koja!"

Smiles stretched across both of their faces, the morning air enveloping them like balloons released from a child's hand. A single tear formed and grew along the lining of Kojama's bottom eyelid until it rolled down his right cheek; the boy was beginning to cry of happiness. The tear then fell from Kojama's jaw down to the ground a couple dozen feet below.

Jiro continued to shoot across the village in huge leaps, each one carrying them over the houses and shops of the whole village. After passing Yuten's small shop, Kojama turned his head to the right slightly and could make out the blurring shape of the building that he both feared and wished to go to. The Bone Village Ninja Academy. Kojama had always dreamed about his first day there, and at the rate that he was hurdling towards his dream of meeting the Shikage right now, he became sure that that dream, too, wasn't far out of reach.

In a flash, the siblings were at the front steps of the Shikage's palace. It was beautifully constructed from the finest white stone, thick pillars supporting the roof and completing the facade, with a gorgeous arch stretching over the entrance above the steps. Torches on either side of the entrance seemed more for decoration than lighting, as all four sides of the temple were open to the sunlight, save for the shadows cast by the pillars themselves.

Etched into the front of the palace's angled roof was the village's symbol, and above that was carved the Japanese kanji for "Death", perfectly matching the symbol found on Kojama's shirt. Jiro could see his younger brother's lit up face just from the corner of his eye as Kojama stared in awe at the temple.

Kojama dismounted himself from Jiro's back, jaw still dropped to the floor in amazement and disbelief. Then, the two heard a pair of voices, one male and one female, call out to Jiro from behind them. The brothers turned to face the calling people, Jiro's squad mates. They seemed to be happy to see Jiro, as they were smiling.

Kojama assumed that the two were Jiro's friends as well as his squadmates, which was rare to find in the Hidden Bone Village. "You get the message, too, Jiro?" asked the male of the two.

"That's right, woke up and found it on our doorstep, Kura," Jiro answered, revealing the other young man's name to Kojama.

Kura was presumably the same age as Jiro, and of nearly the same build, except slightly shorter. His light brown hair bordered on the threshold of blond from the sunlight shining off of it. Although a bit untidy, it still appeared to be better kept than Kojama's somewhat shaggy hair.

The girl next to Kura, who Kojama soon learned was named Asanu through Jiro's inquiry of how she was that morning, had healthy and long blonde hair, and glasses with thin wire frames and perfectly circular lenses over her shining light blue eyes. She stood a bit shorter than Kura, but still about a foot taller than Kojama.

As Jiro conversed with his squad regarding the nature of their mission (most of their words zooming directly over Kojama's lost head), a voice came from the top step of the palace. It was Lord Shikage himself. His voice was raspy and sharp, speaking, "Squad 6, if I may have your kind attention."

All four of them turned their attention to the man, whose appearance matched his voice rather perfectly. Cloudy eyes resided within eyelids synonymous with their dark and large bags, long white and grey hair streamed out from under a wide pointed hat with cloth draped around the brim, and a hand (even more skeletal than those of Kojama and Jiro's mother) held tightly onto a cane that looked possibly as old and worn out as the Shikage himself. The other hand lay at his side, wrapped in bandaging just like Jiro's and Kojama's to conceal the dangerous Jaakuna Te.

"If you would all come with me, I will debrief you on your current mission," the man instructed.

Squad 6 bowed their heads in unison, respectfully acknowledging and agreeing to the Shikage's wishes. After a quick glance to his older brother, Kojama followed suit, bowing his own head before his village's leader. Squad 6 then began ascending the palace's steps, Kojama following close behind them.

Equivalent amounts of fear and joy ran through Kojama as he inched his way closer to the Shikage. In seconds, he would be standing face-to-face with the man, it was almost impossible to believe.

Unknown to Kojama, the Shikage himself, Karasu Doku, was just as glad to be seeing Kojama for his first time. As the group drew closer and closer to the entrance of his palace, Kojama reminded him very much of himself at Kojama's age, and Karasu could tell the boy had plenty of potential waiting to be unlocked.

Soon, the group was standing before the Shikage at his desk, Kojama hiding nervously behind Jiro, peeking around his older brother so he could still see Karasu. A visitor from any other village might be terrified of the dark inside of the palace, but Kojama was rather used to it, as his house and most other buildings in the Bone Village were kept rather dark.

The Shikage's desk looked as if it had been defaced by children, scribblings scrawled all over it, ranging from the symbols on the front of the palace's roof to what seemed to be nonsense, but in reality turned out to be real quotes from Sena Doku, the Shikage's grandfather.

Karasu kept the hand that had before held his cane up on top of his desk, while the wrapped hand stayed down at his side. The Shikage then began to speak, "You three have the highest mission success rate of all the current squads in our academy, so I believe it should come as no surprise that you were my first choice for this mission."

"What do you need us to do, Lord Shikage?" Jiro asked.

"Rumors grow that the Hidden Leaf Village is planning an attack against the Bone Village. The validity of this statement is uncertain, but we cannot take the risk of hoping that it may be false. Therefore, I need you three to perform an espionage mission to prove or disprove such rumors."

Jiro and the other two exchanged looks of uncertainty, Kura asking, "What if we were to be discovered?"

"Then your mission will be a failure, and the safety of our village may be put at risk," Karasu answered, making all three members of Squad 6 gulp deeply.

Kojama became more interested by the second, clearing his throat and asking, "C-Can I go with them..?"

Everyone in the room seemed to be frozen in shock at hearing the boy say anything at all, and even more so to hear the specific question he'd asked. The Shikage developed a small smirk as Jiro turned around to address his brother.

"This mission is a little too dangerous for that, Koja. I'm sorry, but I can't let you-"

"Of course you may go with them, young man."

Jiro looked as though he'd been stabbed in the back by a kunai. He looked back to the Shikage, a small bead of nervous sweat growing on his forehead. "Um, Lord Shikage, d-did I hear you right?" asked Jiro.

The Shikage nodded, enlarging his smirk. "I will allow the boy to join you on your mission, so that he may learn from any mistakes and/or successes that should ensue."

"But Lord Shikage, he's so young. He could get hurt, or worse," spoke Jiro, clearly worried for his brother's safety.

"I'm sure he can handle himself. He is the sibling of two of the village's most skilled shinobi, after all," Karasu replied.

Jiro contemplated whether or not he was comfortable with Kojama coming along, but then settled on the thought that the Shikage must know what he's doing. He curled one hand into a fist then covered it with the other, bowing his head before Karasu and answering, "As you wish, my Lord."

In response, the Shikage nodded, then dismissed the four, "You may go, now. And do not forget the importance of this mission."

"Yes, sir," Squad 6 answered in unison. As Jiro lifted Kojama to his prior place on his back, the young boy was entranced by the symbol, the character "Shi" of the Japanese language, which sat perfectly centered on the top of the Shikage's large hat and matched the symbol on the boy's white shirt. Kojama's eyes then shifted down to catch a small glimpse of the smirk still stamped onto Karasu's face, just before Jiro and the rest turned around to exit the palace.

"So what do you think our first move is, Jiro?" asked Kura, as they walked a path that would take the group out of the village.

"Well," Jiro began, "our mission is to make it into the Hidden Leaf Village undetected. So, my guess is the first thing we'll want to do is establish our disguises. How exactly we'll do that, I'm not sure, but I feel there will be no other way."

Kura and Asanu nodded as Kojama looked back and forth between the both of them. The crunching of the dirt, grass, and twigs beneath their feet was muffled by their conversation.

"We've all seen Leaf Village shinobi before, right? All we'll have to do is take the form of one that we remember," Asanu suggested. Jiro then responded, "Yes, that would be the simplest answer, but Kojama has never performed a Transformation Jutsu, and along with that, he's never seen a ninja from another village, so even if he could change his form, he wouldn't know what to change into. We'll have to figure out some way to hide him other than changing to look like someone from the Leaf Village."

Although embarrassed by what Jiro had told them, Kojama had no way to argue the truth of his statements. Then, a small chuckle was released from Kura as he stopped in his tracks. The wind blew past, ruffling the hair of all four, the shore of the island the Bone Village resided on mere minutes away by foot.

"It shouldn't be that hard to teach him a simple Transformation Jutsu," Kura remarked. "And who says he'll have to change into a Leaf shinobi?" He turned his head to the sound of a dog barking from back within the village.

Jiro understood instantly what Kura meant, and replied, "You have a point there, but time is of the essence. We need to get to the Land of Fire as soon as possible, and we've got miles of water to cross to do that."

Curious as ever, Kojama then spoke up to ask a question, the second time Kura and Asanu heard the boy speak at all, "Won't we need a ship or something?"

All three members of Squad 6 smiled upon hearing this question, and Jiro's answer was short, yet effective. "Just wait and watch, little brother."

And so Kojama did. Another several minutes went by, the village's defensive outer wall and gates a few miles behind them, and they had now reached the stretch of sea that separated the Land of Death from the Land of Fire and all other connected nations.

Kojama's eyes were drawn in as the currents of the sea rustled about, looking all around the surface of the water for any kind of ship or other aquatic transportation, with nothing of the sort to be found. "Watch this, Kojama," spoke Jiro, his right leg stretching out over the edge of the shore he stood on.

Jiro's foot lowered closer and closer to the water's surface, Kojama holding his breath in anticipation. Just as Kojama thought Jiro's foot should've sunk below the water, his older brother shifted his left foot ahead of his right; he was walking on water.

One step after the other, Jiro continued walking further and further away from the shore. He then heard his little sibling say in awe, "Wow..."

"Pretty cool, huh, Koja?"

"It's awesome! I wanna do it!" Kojama yelled out in amazement.

"That'll take some time. They don't teach you how to do this at our school, since it falls within Ninjutsu, and not Shijutsu. Same goes for the Transformation Jutsu we'll be teaching you later," explained Kojama's elder.

A tiny laugh escaped Kojama before he replied, "Who needs to learn it from the school when I've got a teacher like you, Jiro?"

The two grinned, and the four were soon nearly a mile out from the Land of Death's shore.

His attention again pulled in by the splashing sounds originating from below, Kojama continued to observe as Jiro strolled along the sea's surface just as normally as if it were a simple sidewalk. Every step entranced the boy more and more. Seconds turned into minutes, which then stretched into an hour that they'd been travelling across the water.

As this hour passed, Kojama's mind leaped from one thought to the next. He remembered that his birthday would soon be arriving, which would then be followed by his first day at school. He recalled the day before, when Jiro had taught him his first jutsu, and the day prior to that, in which he witnessed the murder of two men at the hands of his oldest brother. He wondered how easy or hard school life might be, if he'd have any friends at the Ninja Academy, and if he would be a match for the other students there.

These thoughts swirled together, flowing all throughout his mind just as the water filling his surroundings flowed.

Then, the boy's eyes began to grow heavy. He yawned as his head lowered against Jiro's shoulder. "Sleepy, Koja?" Jiro asked, regardless of the answer the yawn provided.

"Uh huh..." Kojama sleepily replied.

"Sleep tight, then. We should be reaching the Land of Fire before you wake up."

Soon after these words were spoken, Kojama was fast asleep on Jiro's back, Squad 6 still steadily making their way to the Land of Fire.

After a few minutes had passed, Kura walked closer to Jiro's side and asked in a hushed tone, "Kojama starts school soon, right?"

Jiro nodded, unsure of exactly why Kura had asked this.

"Aren't you nervous? The school just keeps getting tougher and tougher on its students, and especially with Sena becoming an instructor this year..."

"Kojama will be fine, Kura, I have no doubt. He's a fast learner and just about the nicest kid in our village. I'm sure he'll be the top student of his class," Jiro returned as Kojama still lay limp on top of him.

"Of course, I didn't mean anything by it, it's just that more and more kids are running away and disappearing from the village. I just thought-"

"Kojama wouldn't do that, Kura. Surely you oughta know that after all I've told you guys about him. I appreciate your concern, but I'm telling you Koja will make it through."

A silence rang between the two before Kura nodded, distancing himself from Jiro's side.

"Let's pick up our pace. I want us to be able to see the shore of the Land of Fire within the next half hour," suggested Jiro, increasing his speed to a medium jog. His squadmates nodded in agreement, then kept pace with him until all three were dashing across the water at such a speed that their feet only grazed its surface once every few yards.

Jiro stared deeply at the water, his brow furrowed in thought. His jaw shifted left and right subtly, which Asanu noticed as a sign that he was grinding his teeth as he usually did when something was bothering him. Something about this mission seemed off to him, mainly because they'd never had an immediate problem with any other village before. It bewildered him that they could possibly be planning an attack.

As these thoughts trampled through the field of Jiro's mind, a dream similarly stomped its way through his brother as he slept. Kojama was standing directly before the Shikage within the Shikage's palace. A shadow cast itself across the man's face, and he was standing menacingly over Kojama, his Jaakuna Te unwrapped and burning with an insane amount of its signature purple chakra.

Slowly, the chakra raged brighter and stronger until light devoured the shadow over the man's face, highlighting all too well the large dark bags under his eyes. This shot a dread down through Kojama like none he'd felt except when standing before his mother before a punishment. Just looking at the Shikage, he could feel the pain of the man as if they'd both lived a hundred lives, each one more painful than the last.

Though the dream was happening in the span of minutes in the outside world, it was enough time for Squad 6 to make considerable progress towards the Land of Fire, though they still had much further to go. These minutes were stretched out into an extended period of dread for Kojama, however. Karasu spoke no words, nor did he move as much as a muscle, but on his face lay a smirk identical to the one beared when he'd granted Kojama permission to come along on Squad 6's mission.

As this frightening figure towered over the boy, he almost regretted having met the Shikage. He felt as if he was in extreme danger, like the man was seconds away from ending Kojama's life with a single touch.

The fear he felt as he looked over the Shikage was curiously intense, made even more curious by the fact that Karasu hadn't done anything to Kojama, yet the man's intimidating presence steadily became a caricature of itself, every tiny detail that could be seen as scary to the boy growing more and more exaggerated.

The man's hand inched closer and closer to Kojama's face, making the boy swear he could feel the heat of its chakra. Then, just as the hand would have grabbed a hold of him and ended his life, Kojama's eyes snapped open.

In a state of disorientation, he looked around to find the four of them surrounded by trees much more lively than those found in the Bone Village. He was no longer on Jiro's back, but on the ground with his back against one of these trees. Rapid, frantic breaths sped in and out of his lungs through his dry mouth.

Jiro, a smile on his face, looked to Kojama upon hearing these signs that he was awake. His smile morphed into an expression of concern once he saw the distress and slight panic which drenched Kojama's countenance, asking, "What's wrong, Koja?"

Relocating himself in front of his younger brother, he continued, "Bad dream?"

Kojama paused for a short time, still trying to assess the current situation, before sluggishly nodding and letting out, "Uh huh..."

Jiro had seen Kojama in undesirable states before, such as how he'd been for a while since bearing witness to murder of two men at the hands of Sena, but he now sensed a difference in his younger brother's demeanor. It was as if his will had been dented; as if something in the dream had severed a thread in the boy's character.

"Jiro... why is there so much darkness around Lord Shikage's eyes?" Kojama asked, looking at the ground as he envisioned the sinister figure's face from his nightmare again.

Jiro wasn't sure how to answer this, contemplating what he'd say next as his two Squad 6 teammates looked back and forth between the two brothers.

After a deep breath in, the older brother responded, "I'm sure you already know that Lord Shikage's parents died when he was younger by the order of the Third Hokage of the Leaf Village."

Kojama listened closely, his eyes moving up from the ground to meet Jiro's gaze. Asanu and Kura listened just as closely, interested in how Jiro would handle this situation.

"Not only did this lead to the hatred our Shikage bears for any other Hidden Village, it also manifested the poor man's depression. That's what the dark bags and sunken nature of his eyes are from, Kojama; depression."

Digesting what Jiro had said, Kojama repeated, "Depression..." He then continued, "What exactly is depression, big brother?"

This question was the exact one Jiro had been dreading answering, for the exact answer was something even he wasn't sure of. Despite this, he replied, "Well, in simple terms, imagine it like a great weight within you that weighs you down, while draining you of your joy. Over time, it can become harder and harder to deal with, especially if you're on your own."

As the two talked, Asanu and Kura piled up wood they'd gathered into a slightly rounded grouping, continuing to unpack various supplies like food, sleeping bags, and alike. While doing so, they still kept their ears open to listen to the conversation.

"I think I get it," said Kojama. The boy looked around at their surroundings, then asked, "Where are we?"

Jiro turned his head to observe the actions of his comrades, then turn back to face Kojama, answering, "You were so out of it that we managed to get all the way to the Land Of Fire." He chuckled lightly and ruffled the hair of his younger brother, painting an involuntary grin onto the boy.

"That reminds me," Jiro continued, "we still have to teach you the Tranformation Jutsu." He tapped Kojama's shoulder encouragingly as if to say, "Come on," and Kojama slowly lugged himself up, shaking his head in hopes to welcome his senses back.

Just then, a low rumble was heard by the entire group, catching everyone's attention. Another, slightly lower instance of the rumble revealed to all that it was coming from Kojama's stomach. Laughing, Jiro said, "Well, hang on. You're not gonna learn a new jutsu on an empty stomach, little bro. You haven't eaten all day, have you?" He then wrapped his arm around Kojama's shoulder, at which point the younger brother shook his head silently as an answer.

"Well lucky for the little guy, we keep plenty of food packed for all of our missions," Asanu said with a smile and a giggle.

Jiro and Kojama sat down on a wooden log, which the squad had turned into a makeshift bench while Kojama was asleep, as Asanu and Kura prepared a lunch for everyone. Once their preparation was complete, the group soon had food before their eyes, the smell of which was equal in its exquisite quality to its appearance.

Kojama almost began to dig right in, before he noticed Jiro next to him with his head bowed and his eyes closed. After looking to the other two members of Squad 6, he felt slightly embarrassed that he'd almost forgotten to pray before eating, and followed suit with those around him.

As usual, he prayed for the well-being of his village and those in it, yet this time he also prayed for the Shikage specifically, something he'd never put much thought towards before. Despite how much fear the thought of the man put into Kojama, he still wished the best for him, including hoping his depression might somehow be subdued.

Their prayers all finished, the four of them opened their eyes, one after the other, then began to gorge upon the delicious meal. Within ten minutes, all of their plates were left looking like ravaged battlefields. Since this was Kojama's first meal of the day, he felt so starved that he shyly asked for another helping. His request was met, and soon this serving was also scarfed down.

His hunger defeated, Kojama was now ready to learn his second jutsu. Jiro clapped his hands together then said, "Alright, everyone, let's get to it so Koja can learn the most useful disguise technique there is." He then stood up from the log he and Kojama sat on and took a few small steps away from the compact fire, which sizzled and crackled until it shrank to a tiny ember as Kojama and the other two members of Squad 6 gathered near Jiro.

After roughly 30 minutes, Squad 6 had given Kojama a basic understanding of how to perform the Transformation Jutsu and its many uses, along with the fact that since it was a Ninjutsu technique, it was not taught in the Bone Village Ninja Academy. This meant the three had to learn the jutsu of their own will, with Jiro being the first of them to learn it.

Jiro had each of them transform into a different form to demonstrate that, along with other people, a ninja can also use the technique to change into an animal, plant, or object. Jiro changed into the appearance of Squad 6's sensei from the academy, Uragiri. Kura swapped his form to match that of Uragiri's four-bladed scytche, the weapon he was famous and infamous for using. Finally, Asanu transformed to appear identical to Uragiri's animal companion, a raven with crimson eyes and large jet black pupils, its beak sharp and its shriek nearly deafening.

Kura's scythe form swirled around like a sharp-edged cyclone between Jiro's transformed hands. His movements with the scythe grasped in his grip and the raven resting on his shoulder as if nothing was happening seemed inhuman, so calculated, swift, and precise. Kojama watched, his mouth agape and speechless, as Jiro continued these amazing demonstrative movements.

After a whirlwind of example attacks at the air, which themselves created a whirl of wind that breezed around Kojama, all three shifted back into their real selves in a cloud similar to that left by Jiro's shadow clone during his battle with Sena the day before.

A short discussion followed, in which Jiro suggested that Kojama transform into him for a simple test. This suggestion was met with uncertainty from Kojama, who had little belief that he could match his brother's appearance.

"It's alright if your transformation isn't perfect. We have a while to work on it before the sun goes down, Koja," reassured Jiro. Then, after further encouragement from Asanu and Kura, Kojama finally decided to attempt the jutsu.

Although he did not know what the quality of his transformation would result in, he was ready. He'd learned enough about the move's nature and execution to give it a go. Deep, controlled breaths glided through the boy as he envisioned his generous brother, taking into consideration every detail about him. This concentration naturally fell upon the thing that seemed to represent Jiro best of all, his one-of-a-kind headband crafted by Shikage Karasu Doku.

His eyes sealed, the mental construction of the headband shined an increasingly brighter glow, which blended into the sunlight that streamed its way back into Kojama's vision as his eyelids lifted once again. During this envisionment, Kojama simultaneously performed the necessary hand signs and exclaimed, "Transformation Jutsu!"

He was met with a gasp and a chuckle of slight amazement, neither of which had come from Jiro. Asasnu and Kura gazed at Kojama without words, then all three fixed their attention onto Jiro, who was now seemingly face-to-face with an exact duplicate of himself. Although Kojama didn't feel any different, he knew simply by Jiro's familiar smile that he'd succeeded. The older brother then moved closer to his student sibling, resting his hand on a shoulder perfectly matching his own.

"See, Koja? I told you you could do it," Jiro stated as he looked his brother-turned-doppelgänger in the eyes.

His joy upon hearing Jiro's words broke Kojama's concentration, and within seconds he'd reverted back to his true body, standing with his forehead just making it to Jiro's chest. They exchanged grins, receiving admiring glances from Kura and Asanu, and all four were soon unraveling their sleeping bags as the sun descended from its playground high above.

Amazingly, the fire continued to crackle and sizzle, flakes of ash popping up and drifting around them: none of them big or hot enough to spark any kind of wildfire. The four lost themselves within the warm range of color the fire portrayed, the consistent soft sounds serving as a sort of percussion rhythm to support the childhood lullaby being sung by Asanu. The three boys listened less to the words of the song and more to Asanu's smooth melodies, which made it clear how many times she'd practiced the song either to herself or her family. Before the end of the song, Kura had effectively been knocked out, his face laying in the dirt and tiny twigs as he snored and drooled. Kojama and Jiro chuckled at him as they, too rocked from side to side in a sleepy stupor.

The song completed, Kojama shifted his view from the fire that had enraptured him not long ago to various points around him, such as the holes poked through the night sky in the form of peeking stars, a small pond nearby where wildlife interacted without end, and the branches of the trees that seemed almost as numerous as the stars in the sky. Thoughts now conjured and stirred inside the boy, mostly centering around the Shikage. None of them were negative. In fact, Kojama wasn't entirely sure what they were in specificity. He only knew that he was thinking, and the Shikage was the subject around which these thoughts orbited.

Then, as if the soul of another had possessed him, Kojama suddenly released a question, "Do you think the Shikage will ever be happy again?"

Jiro tightened his arm around Kojama, securing him to his side. "I'm sure he will. Who wouldn't be with you in their village, little bro?" he responded.

Kojama smiled faintly and hid his face in Jiro's side, yawning. Once several minutes passed, Jiro could tell Kojama had fallen asleep, at which point he delicately relocated his younger brother into his sleeping bag. Asanu remained seated where she'd been during her song, looking at Kojama in adoration as the receding fire's light glinted off her lightly scratched glasses. Such scratches were the result of the training and few dozen missions she, Kura, and Jiro had completed, making the fact that they were even still in tact quite a miracle.

Her eyes shifting to Jiro, she discovered that he was looking at Kojama much in the same way she had just been. His caring gaze fixed upon the boy, she could easily discern how much he cared for his sibling. Her thoughts seamlessly transitioned to his other brother, Sena, and just how different he was from these two. She found it difficult -- impossible to comprehend how the older brother of such kindhearted boys could be so menacing.

Her glasses slid minutely down her nose as she asked in a hushed tone, "Why is Sena the way that he is?"

Immediately, she recognized that her question might have sounded rude. Luckily, Jiro did not seem to perceive it this way.

"That's not an easy one to answer," he began, thinking.

"It's alright, you don't have to answer," Asanu said back. "It just crossed my mind so-"

"I guess it started when he began school at our academy."

Asanu was taken aback by how sudden Jiro's answer seemed to spring out. He continued, "He grew less empathetic and more distant, almost like he wanted to scare us..."

A silence hovered for a short time before he concluded, "I guess that would be the short answer. The school changed him."

Asanu nodded. "I'm sorry," she consoled him. Of course, she was met with an expected response, "It's fine."

The silence returned, and soon, the two positioned themselves under their respective sleeping bags and made their way towards unconsciousness after wishing each other a sound sleep. Several minutes later, the entirety of the four-person group was asleep. Their various sounds blended in naturally with the sounds of their surroundings, making them, in essence, part of such surroundings.


End file.
